Polygon Among Six Web3 Projects Selected for Disney Accelerator

The Walt Disney Company hasn't yet made any crypto play of its own. But now it has multiple crypto companies in its accelerator program.

Disney announced the 2022 participants of its accelerator program on Wednesday, and leading Web3 company Polygon is among them.

"Raise your hand if you remember your first Disney experience like yesterday," the Polygon account tweeted along with a link to the official announcement. "We are excited to announce that Polygon has been chosen to be a part of the Disney Accelerator program."

The project noted in an earlier tweet that it is also “the only blockchain chosen” for the program, though it's unclear how many others applied or were under consideration.

Formerly known as Matic Network and rebranded in 2021, Polygon is a scaling and interoperability framework for building Ethereum-compatible blockchains that seek to address some of Ethereum's significant limitations, such as limited throughput and poor user experience.

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Almost 50 projects built on Terra, including the NFT marketplace OnePlanet and metaverse game Derby Stars, have begun migrating to Polygon—and more are on the way. "We will be putting capital and resources against these migrations to welcome the developers and their respective communities," Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt tweeted on Friday. UPDATE: Terra projects have begun migration. Over 48 projects and counting… including @OnePlanet_NFT, an exclusive @0xPolygon marketplace, and @DerbyStars_HQ...

Joining Polygon in this year's class are Web3 social media app Flickplay, artificial intelligence platform Inworld, Web3 storytelling platform Lockerverse, augmented reality company Red 6, and Obsess, an "experimental" e-commerce platform. The program kicks off this week.

Disney says participants will be provided with investment capital, access to co-working space at the entertainment giant’s creative campus in Los Angeles, and mentor support and guidance from Disney executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders from the entertainment and technology fields.

The accelerator is open to venture-backed, growth-stage startups with a vision for impacting the future of technology and entertainment. Disney says that this year's accelerator class will focus on building the future of immersive experiences through technologies like augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

NFTs are blockchain-based tokens that show ownership over digital or physical assets.

"For nearly a century, Disney has been at the forefront of leveraging technology to build the entertainment experiences of the future," Bonnie Rosen, General Manager of the Disney Accelerator program, said in a statement. "With our newest class of companies, we look forward to furthering our commitment to innovation and continuing to bring magical experiences to Disney audiences and guests for the next 100 years."